Bottle vending machine



Jan. 26, 1960 R. s. DENZER 2,922,545

BOTTLE VENDING MACHINE INVENTOR. ROMEO 5. DENZER Filed Nov. 2. 1955 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN V EN TOR.

ROMEO 5. DENZER Jan. 26, 1960 R. s. DENzER BOTTLE VENDING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed NOV. 2. 1,955

INVENTOR. ROMEO 5. DENZER Jan. 26, 1960 R. s. DENzx-:R 2,922,545

BOTTLE VENDING MACHINE Filed Nov. 2, 1955 4 sheets-sheet 4 i 7 I I C I I 97 l g 1 I V96 I I /5 I I I I /2 74 -r 1 I /z/I l E I I l 94 I i I i I I A 7 I I /0 .-so Ffg. 9 v ,ff/9.10

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United States Patent O BOTTLE vENDlNG MACHINE Romeo S. Denzer, La Crosse, Wis., assigner to La Crosse Cooler Company, La Crosse, Wis., a corporation lof Wisconsin Application November 2, 1955, Serial No. '544,497 1 Claim. (Cl. 221-125) It is 'an object of the invention to provide structure for handling a plurality of different brands of beverage bottles and allowing the selection of the desired brand.

It is another object of the invention to provide a single coin controlled apparatus which, upon insertion of the coin, will permit the selection of a single bottle from any of the brands stored and which will prevent removal of other bottles when the operator has moved the bottle selected. l

It is still another object of the invention to provide means for feeding bottles from a plurality of trays to a single bottle outlet.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the specification proceeds to describe the invention in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l is front elevational View of a vending machine for bottled goods made in accordance with the present invention, the front door being entirely removed to show the interior construction;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2-2 of Fig. l.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken on line 3-3 of Fig. l;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view in elevation of the bottle outlet structure;

Fig. 5 is a view in elevation of the locking mechanism with the cover broken away in part;

Fig. 6 is a top plan View of the locking mechanism;

Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken on line 7-7 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 8 is a sectional lview taken on line 8-8 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 9 is a top plan view of a bottle storage tray; and

Fig. 10 is a sectional view taken on line 10'-10 of Fig. 9.

Referring now to the drawings in which like numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in the various iigures, 10 is the casing which is suitably insulated in a manner not shown. In the casing 10 are bottle storage trays 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20 serving a single bottle opening 22. Additional trays 24 and 26 serve the bottle opening 28 and 30 respectively. The trays are inclined so that the bottles 32 are urged by gravity toward the bottle openings. The trays 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20 contain bottles `of a single brand of beverage and discharge in sequence beginning with the top tray and ending with tray 20. Figures 9 and 10 show a construction which accomplishes sequential discharge from the trays. As shown in Figs. 1, 9, and 10, trays 12, 14, and 16 each have a gate 34 pivoted thereto at bearings 36. The gates 34 extend downwardly to the tr-ay below and the lowennost bottle on each tray rests upon the gate 34. The bottles discharged from the trays 12, 14, and 16 descend vertically in the space defined by the ends of the trays and the partition .38. Tray 18 has a gate 40 similar to the gates 34 but extending under the bottle 42 which is in position to enter the passageway 44 leading to the bottle opening 22. It is thus seen that gate 40 prevents the movement of the bottles on tray 20 until all the bottles 32 from the trays 12, 14, 16, and 18 have passed into the passageway 44. The bottles on tray 24 merelymove by gravity into passageway 46 leading to bottle opening 28 and the bottles on tray 26 move by gravity into passageway 48 leading to bottle opening 30.

As shown in Fig. 2, the casing 10 has a door 50 hinged thereto at 52. A smaller transparent `door 54 is hinged to the door 50 at 56. The door 50 is normally locked and is opened only to load or service the machine. The door 54 may he opened by the buyer to permit removal of a bottle.

As shown in Fig. l, a sealed casing 58 encloses a refriger-ant compressor and a motor for driving the same, neither of which are shown. A condenser 59 condenses the refrigerant vapo-r compressed by the compressor and the condensed refrigerant is conveyed to the cooling coil 60 through a capillary tube 61. A motor driven fan 62 draws air from the front of the refrigerated space 63 throughthe coil 68 and discharges the cooled air toward the rear of the refrigerated space. The cooled air ows upwardly around the bottles 32. A baille 64 insures that the cooled airwill be distributed uniformly over the bottles 32. The refrigerant vaporized in the coil 60 flows to the sealed casing 58 through a tube 65. Condensate which forms on the cooling coil 60 drains through a pipe 66 into a receptacle 67.

A. coin controlled apparatus 68 of an old and well known construction is mounted on the side of the casing. The coin controlled apparatus 6-8 can be mounted on the door 50` if desired. The buyer inserts a coin in the coin control-led apparatus 68 which energizes a solenoid 69 through wires 70 and 71. A lock mechanism, shown in detail in Figs. Sand 6, is indicated generally by numeral 73. A `cover 72 has been partly broken away in Figure 5 to show the interior of the lock mechanism 73. A front sheet 72a and a rear sheet 72b are secured to each other as by spotwelding. A latch 74 is slidably supported by front sheet 72a and rear sheet 72b. The slidably mounted latch 74 is secured to the plunger 75 of solenoid 69 by a pin 76. When solenoid 69 is energized by depositing a coin, it pulls latch 74 to the right when viewed as in Fig. 5 and Fig. 6, and slidably mounted detent 77 moves out of recess 78a and engages in recess 78. Spring 79 urges latch 74 to the left when viewed as in Fig. 5 and Fig. 6.

The bottle openings 22, 28 and 30 have bottle gates 80, 81 and 82 respectively. These bottle .gates are of similar construction, and it will sumce to describe bottle gate in detail. As shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the gate 80 has iixedly secured thereto a shaft 83 which is pivotally mounted in front plate 84 and back plate 85. Shaft 83 has a crank 86 which engages a cam member 87 which is slidably mounted in the lock mechanism 73. Gate 80 normally extends across opening 22 and prevents removal of a bottle. Cam 87 by engagement with crank 86 prevents gate 80 from pivoting counterclockwise to bottle releasing position until lock mechanism 73 permits cam member 87 to move to the left when viewed as in Fig. 5 and Fig. 6. A ange 88 is xedly secured to shaft 83. Upon counterclockwise pivotal movement of shaft 83, gate 80 moves to permit a bottle to enter opening 22 into a position such that it can be removed. With the same movement, liange 88 moves downwardly to prevent a seco-nd bottle from entering opening 22.

When latch 74 has been moved by solenoid 69 to -a position in which detent 77 engages in recess 78, a notch 89 in latch74 is in position to receive a slide 90. It is thus seen that in this position of the latch 74, slide 90 is permitted to move upwardly, permitting cam 87'to move to the left which in turn permits sha-ft 83 and gate 3G to move counterclockwise to bottle releasing position.

For gate 81 there is a cam 91 similar to cam 87 and a slide 92 similar to slide 90. Slide 92 normally -abuts slide 90. When cam 87 has been moved to the left when viewed as in Fig. 5, slide 92 is prevented from moving upwardly by cam 37, and therefore'carn 91 cannot be moved to the left. It is thus seen that movement of gate S to release a bottle from opening 22 locks gate 1 and all the other gates ag-ainst a similar movement.

Let us now assume that the buyer selects a bottle from opening 28 and moves gate 81 counterclockwise. This movement moves cam 91 to the left raising slide 92 which in turn raises slide 90 into notch 89. In this position cam 87 is prevented by slide 92 from moving to the left. It is thus seen that if any of the bottle gates are moved toward bottle releasing position all the other bottle gates are locked.

Secured to slide 90 in any suitable manner as by spotwelding is a front plate 94 which has a slot 95 to receive a pin 96 which extends from detent 77. When the slide 9i! and the front plate 94 move upwardly slide 90 iirst engages in notch 89 and upon further movement the end of slot 95' engages pin 96 to raise detent 77 out of engage-ment with latch 74. Spring 79 then moves latch 74 to the left to engage the side of notch 89 with the side of slide 90. This movement is just sufficient to put detent 77 out of register with recess 78.

After withdrawal of the bottle selected, slide 90 descends and starts to withdraw from notch 89. When the top edge of slide 90 reaches recess 89a, the latch 74 is moved by spring 79 a short distance tothe left yas to insert another coin to put latch 74 into bottle releasing position.

While I have shown my--invention in but one form, the invention is limited only'by the scope of the appended claim. t

What I claim is: l

A product vending machine comprising a product storage compartment having a front wall with product release openings, gates pivotally mounted in said product storage compartment and normally extending across said product release openings to, prevent the removal of products, slidably mounted cams, said cams being in engagement with said gates to be moved thereby, a plurality of slides in end to end abutting relationship, each of said cams being arranged to; engage and move one of said slides, a latch slidably mounted and having a normal position in which one side of the latch is adjacent to and opposes any substantial movement of one of said slides, spring means for resiliently holdingA said latchin said normal position, means for moving said latch against the force of said spring means to a release position in which a recessin said latch is opposite said one of said slides to receive said one of said slides upon movement of one of said gates to bottle releasing position, said latch having a notch extending from the recess in said latch to receive said one of said slides upon partial return movement of said bottle gate and to permit said spring to move said latch out of bottle release position.

France Aug. 12, 

